For now, though, enjoy the aforementioned eye-candy from the Water shows.
Where you can find fiber arts eye-candy till June 3. Go now!“The Gorge/Water Cycle” by Judith Roderick. Hand-painted silk art quilt. The picture can never do this justice, but note how the bird is also part of the gorge.Close up of “Blue Water of the North/Feng Shui Series” by Donna Loraine Contractor. Wool on cotton tapestry.Oops! How did my own piece slip in there? 🙂 “Memory of Water” is hooked with plastic bags on monks’ cloth.
“Leaves and X’s in the Ice” by Nancy Wohlenberg was made using a discontinuous tapestry technique; four selvedge technique. Love this!Heidi Anderson felted alpaca and merino wool to create: “”Water is Life Seed Pot” on the right and “Olla” on the left. so cute!Part of “Germinating” by Linda Rael. Dyed fabric, stitching.
A close-up of Linda Rael’s “Water is Life.” Dyed, painted, stitched, and found objects.
“The Day Begins” by Linda Rael. Hand-dyed and recycled fabrics, found objects. This crane really “stood out.”
“Mayordomo” by Linda Rael. Mixed media. “Mayordomo” is the guardian of the acequias or the water ditch master.
A close-up of “Rain Dance” by Linda Rael. Stitched, beaded doll.“Mountain Snow,” a handmade felted coat created by Vicki Anne Evans. Lovely, but I put that on, ketchup will drop from the sky right onto my boob.
“Novena for Rain” by Catherine Kelly (and my friend and Adobe Wool Arts guild mate. Multi/fractured piece of traditional rug hooking, felted wool, yarn, and beads.
And lastly, though not the best shot, Cathy and myself in front of her piece. Perhaps we’re really the fiber arts eye-candy… Regardless, I still think that they should’ve had wine at the opening reception. Your thoughts concerning beverages at art receptions: wine versus ice water with stupid lemon slices. Let me know in the comments.
The rug I was working on during last summer’s exodus: “Welcome to New Mexico.” Since then I’ve been taking stock of our first year here.
Taking stock – that’s what I did with some of the time I took off from the blog these past couple of weeks (which passed by REALLY QUICKLY). July 30 held particular significance and not just because it was the day before my kid’s 19th birthday. This year it marked exactly one year since we rolled into the state of New Mexico to stay.
Wow! We can’t believe it either. At times it’s been tumultuous, there’s no denying that. The holidays, they were tough without family and friends. The kid crashing her car – no injuries other than to pride! – means that just like in high school, Tom’s stuck driving her back and forth to work till she saves for a new vehicle.
Big picture, though, the move’s been most everything we wanted.
Where Tynan and I walk in the Bosque along the west side of the Rio Grande. This is city living Albuquerque style.
CLIMATE:
Certainly, the weather’s wonderful: lots of sun, lots less winter (compared to New England). One day last January, we hiked in the snow on the east side of the Sandia Mountains then drove the 45 minutes to home where it was 55 degrees. No need for a stinkin’ snowblower here!
RUG HOOKING (this is a hooking blog):
You’ll find several of us AWAG’s ladies demonstrating rug hooking at Albuquerque’s Biopark the first Tuesday of most every month.
Who would’ve guessed that there’s such an active guild of hookers out here in Albuquerque? I’ve made some great friends this past year, even one, Melinda, who moved from New Hampshire about the same time I moved from Massachusetts. Now the two of us try to get a hooking afternoon in each week. Better yet, she and her husband are New England Patriots fans just like us. Tom and I are no longer alone in a sea of blue and orange Bronco fans.
“Desert Gone Wild,” a table runner or wall hanging, went to a good home just last week.
As High on Hooking, I’ve managed to start selling pieces and been involved in not one, but two shows. The Adobe Wool Arts (ATHA) guild volunteered me as our representative to Albuquerque’s Fiber Arts Council which is currently planning next May’s Fiber Arts Fiesta. Then back in January, three of us headed down to Tuscon in Arizona for a hook-in with the Old Pueblo Rug Hookers. It was 80 degrees there! In January! I even managed a little sunburn!
You can’t get much closer to a balloon without being in the basket. This one landed right behind the house last fall.
HOUSING:
While we didn’t down-size like we planned (hey, with no cellar or attic, we realized we needed an extra room for the treadmill and bike), we found a great house close to the Rio Grande. That means the dog and I can head out to walk the scenic trails of the Bosque (the forest) whenever we wish. In summer this is best done in the early morning hours.) So far we’ve come across a snake, hawks and hummingbirds, lots of bunnies and geckos, two coyotes, and, just last week, a porcupine.
Tynan running free in the Bosque. Just like New England, autumn is the best season to be in New Mexico.
PERSONAL:
I turned 52 this summer. Moving here signaled the start of the next half of my life. (You think I’m optimistic, but one of my grandmothers died as an active 93-year-old, and the other is still very much alive.) One reason we moved here — besides the BIG sky, the art scene, and there being less people — was for the outdoor lifestyle. We like to hike. Unfortunately, a couple of months before we left the east coast, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. I won’t lie, it’s been a pain in my ass, amongst other places, but especially for my knees. That’s limited our hiking some. But I’m on a new med; here’s hoping it works without too many side effects (the scary kinds they recite to us in all the TV ads). And that the damn hot flashes stop soon. (I am 52.)
Luckily, though, while my fingers have swollen some, they’ve suffered little pain. Maybe all the hooking keeps everything lubed up. Thank goodness. I know that most of you feel like I do: hooking is therapy. Without it, life would, to put it bluntly, suck.
Life here in Albuquerque definitely does NOT suck. There are all kinds of new experiences:
Wineries and old ruins and Indian pueblos and Petroglyph National Monument that puts volcanoes practically in our backyard!
Hot air balloons that float right over our house and sometimes land on the street right behind it!
Gardening in the desert – we’re not in Massachusetts any more where missing a day of watering isn’t be much of a problem. Worse, we pay for water here! But we’re learning all about drought-tolerant plants.
Tom posing in Tent Rocks’ curves.Navajo rugs up for auction.
I could go on, but I won’t right now. There’s too much to do. Rugs don’t hook themselves. Plus, we have company coming early September through mid-October. I can play Julie McCoy to the relatives.
How’s your summer been going?
Mass Ascension at Balloon Fiesta 2015. Have you ever seen so many balloons in one place?
High on Hooking says “Welcome to New Mexico.” Stay for a while and see why we love it here.
The Colors of the Southwest show put on by the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Council is history. It opened Friday morning; there was a “meet the artists” reception that evening. Saturday it ran all day. I was there Friday evening to view and schmooze and Saturday afternoon to demonstrate rug hooking. Took a LOT of pics as there were many, many talented artists represented. Enjoy!
This is Cathy Kelly’s rug dedicated to her good friend Emma Webber.Very southwestern. “Joya Voladora en la Puesta del Sol” by Molly Gallegos
“The Rare Desert Elephant” knitted by Tara Cummings
A close-up of “Sitting Pretty” by Rod Daniel
The vibrant “New Mexico Vortex” by Margaret Shumaker
“Intergalactic Tourist” by Nancy Ellis-Hines. (Oddly enough, Tom and I headed out to the movies to see “Star Wars” again after we left the show Friday night.)
“Abundecia de Flores,” an example of colcha embroidery, by Annette Turk
“Roadside Bloom Plastic” woven by Mary Colton“Flamenca Naranja” by Dana Helms
“Beauty in the Wilderness” quilted by Anita McSorleyTapestryAnd lastly, the too cute “Desert Trolls” by Tara Cunnings
My own “Ribbons Over Albuquerque”
Congratulations to the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Council and member guilds on a show well done!
Since I had to make my monthly Target trip yesterday, I decided to combine it with a fiber arts show I read about in the Albuquerque Journal. Palette Contemporary Art and Craft is currently hosting the exhibit which features “textile paintings” by Katie Pasquini Masopust. One of these pieces to the right ran in the paper inducing me to visit the gallery and see her other pieces.
Katie is based north of here in Santa Fe – for now. Apparently, she’s getting ready to move to California. Too bad. As you can see, her quilts – not the kind you’d be putting on your bed! – look like paintings until you get right on top of them.
In this close-up, you can see the stitching that makes this piece a “quilt.”
The exhibit describes her work as “textile paintings.” I wouldn’t disagree. Painted pieces of canvas are stitched into the quilt with other fabrics.
“Mercato (Play with Emphasis)” by Katie Pasquini Masopust.“Big Getty” by Katie Pasquini Masopust.
There were other items in the gallery. This is a large painting I loved by Daniel North. It’s called “Enso and the Modernist.”
Today’s errands about town involved a visit with my rheumatologist who’s based at UNM Hospital. Imagine my happy surprise when Tom and I entered the clinic and found these on the wall:
I’d known that there was a tapestry show at the hospital, but I thought that I’d missed it. Certainly, had no idea it was in the clinic I use. (And if Tom had known it was there, I’m sure he wouldn’t have accompanied me to my appointment. Ha!)
Works represented several weavers.
Katherine Perkins‘s tapestry “Sirocco Sky Provence” was stunning.“Iris III” by Letitia Roller was incredibly lifelike and had a sparkly, gold background.
Series of night scenes from White Sands National Monument by Linda Giesen.
Do you go out of your way to see other types of fiber arts? Or maybe you DO other types of fiber arts? Either way, please share with us how textiles other than rug hooking influence your art. That’s a blog for another day.
